icttru 

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UnUhUOCiii. 


oumm  N.  c 

ADDEESS 
TO  THE   CHURCHES, 

UPON 

THE  PRESENT  CRISIS. 


BY  THE  REV.  TIIOS.  E.  PECK, 

OF    THE    UNION    THEOLOGICAL    SEMINARY. 


EVANGELICAL    TRACT    SOCIETY, 

PETERSBURG  VIRGINIA. 
1862. 


This  Address  was  originally  published  by  the  Synod  of 
Virginia,  October,  1861,  as  a  Pastoral  Letter  to  the  churches 
under  their  care,  but  its  timely  and  excellent  suggestions  are 
calculated  to  benefit  christians  of  all  denominations,  and  it  is 
therefore  issued  by  the  Tract  Society  as  an  address  to  the 
churches  generally.  Its  Author  is  the  Rev.  Thos.  E.  Peck, 
of  the  Union  Theological  Seminaiy. 


c.    LbROI   printer, 


[No.  83. 


ADDRESS  TO  THE  CHURCHES, 

—UPON— 

Ttt  IPIISli?  GM8U 


Dear  Brethren. — We  feel  it  to  be  our  duty  to  address  you 
upon  the  dangers,  discouragements  and  temptations  which 
visit  you  in  these  times  of  trouble  and  distraction,  and  threat- 
en not  only  to  embarrass  and  hinder  the  progress  of  the 
Lord's  work  among  you,  but,  in  some  of  the  churches,  even 
wholly  to  arrest  it.  We  are  in  the  midst  of  a  war  which  will 
task  the  utmost  resources  of  the  country,and  make  the  largest 
draughts  upon  the  patriotism  aud  self-denying  zeal  and  pa- 
tience of  our  citizens,  to  conduct  to  a  successful  termination. 
There  is  great  danger,  in  these  circumstances,  of  our  over- 
looking the  immense  and  transcendent  interests  of  the  church 
of  God,  in  the  absorbing  solicitude  we  naturally  feel  to  estab- 
lish the  independence  of  our  own  commonwealth,  and  of 
those  who  are  confederate  with  it.  We  ask  your  attention, 
therefore,  as  the  followers  of  the  Lord  to  some  hints  in  re- 
gard to  the  claims  of  His  cause  upon  you,  in  the  present 
crisis. 

1st.  And,  in  the  first  place,  beloved  brethren,  we  are  en- 
titled to  assert  in  regard  to  all  the  dispensations  of  Provi- 
dence, that  they  are  not  designed  to  suspend,  much  less  to 
arrest  altogether  the  progress  of  the  work  of  grace.  This 
work  in  time  is  only  the  evolution  of  that  great  plan  of  sal- 
vation which  was  conceived  in  the  counsels  of  eternity,  and 
whose  final  consummation  all  other  works  of  creation  and  provi- 
dence are  intended  to  subserve.      "God  created  all  things  by 


4  ADDRESS   TO   THE   CHtJfcCtiES, 

Jesus  Christ  to  the  intent  that,  now,  unto  the  principalities 
and  powers  in  heavenly  places  might  be  known  by  the  church 
the  manifold  wisdom  of  God."  "All  that  the  Father  giveth 
to  me,"  says  our  blessed  Saviour,  "shall  come  to  me,  and  him 
that  cometh  to  me  I  will  in  no  wise  cast  out.  For  I  came 
down  from  Heaven,  not  to  do  mine  own  will,  but  the  will  of 
him  that  sent  me.  And  thus  is  the  Father's  will  which  hath 
sent  me,  that  of  all  which  He  hath  given  me  I  should  loose 
nothing,  but  should  raise  it  up  again  at  the  last  day."  The 
same  Saviour  who  uttered  these  precious  words  ha3  said  also 
that  "He  came  not  to  send  peace  on  earth  but  a  sword,"  and 
to  make  the  members  of  a  man's  own  household  his  foes. — 
The  same  voice  which  cried  upon  the  cross,  "Father  forgive 
them,  for  they  know  not  what  they  do,"  has  summoned  the 
hosts  to  the  field  of  battle.  All  power  in  heaven  and  earth 
is  in  His  hands,  as  the  Saviour  of  the  elect ;  and  it  is  as  the 
Saviour,  that  He  has  stretched  out  the  drawn  sword  over  our 
land  and  has  filled  it  with  strife  and  blood.  .  There  is  no 
incompatibility,  therefore,  between  this  war  and  the  progress 
of  His  work  of  redemption.  The  covenant  which  secures 
the  salvation  of  the  church,  is  as  sacred  as  it  can  be  made  by 
the  blood  which  sealed  it,  and  as  sure  as  it  can  be  made  by 
the  oath  of  Him  who,  "because  He  could  swear  by  no  great- 
er, hath  sworn  by  Himself" — "no  weapon,"  saith  the  Lord  to 
the  church,  "no  weapon  that  is  formed  against  thee  shall  pros- 
per." 

2.  In  the  next  place,  as  the  work  must  go  on,  so  also,  it 
must  go  on  by  your  means.  No  doubt  that  Christ  our  Head 
might  dispense  with  all  human  instrumentalities,  ministry, 
oracles  and  ordinances  ;  and  Ho  might  have  done  so  from  the 
beginning.  He  needed  the  use  of  no  word,  no  preaching,  no 
men,  no  money.  But  lie  has  not  chosen  to  dispense  with 
your  services,  and  it  becomes  you  to  bless  His  name  every 
day  that  He  has  not;  but,  on  the  contrary,  that  He  has  given 
you  the  glorious  privilege  and  fellowship  of  being  co-workers 
with  Himself;  that  He  has  with  unsearchable  condescension 
and  grace,  said  to  you  all — Itvillnot  do  the  work  ivithout  you. 
It  is  still  true,  and  will  continue  to  be  true,  till  our  blessed 
Lord  shall  come  the  second  time,  without  sin  unto  salvation, 
that  "faith  cometh  by  hearing,  and  hearing  by  the  word  of 


irON     1HK   ^RESENT    CRISIS.  0 

God,  and  the  word  of  God,  maialy  by  the  HviDg  preacher. 
The  ministry  of  the  word,  therefore,  must  be  sustained,  the 
ordinances  of  worship  must  be  continued,  the  church  must 
shine  on  as  a  light  in  the  world. 

But  some  of  you  may  say,  "you  are  requiring  impossibili- 
ties." "Have  not  our  lesources  been  crippled,  our  ministers 
been  enlisted  for  the  war,  our  taxes  increased,  while  our  abili- 
ty to  pay  them  has  been  reduced,  Arc.  Arc  V 

We  answer,  "Is  any  thing  too  hard  for  the  Lord  ?"  A 
majority  of  the  people  of  the  South,  if  they  had  been  asked 
a  year  ago,  whether  it  were  possible  for  her  to  do,  what  is 
matter  of  history  now,  that  she  has  done  within  the  last  six 
months,  would  doubtless  have  pronounced  it  impossible. — 
The  trial  has  developed  her  resources  in  a  manner  which  has 
astonished  her  own  people.     And  this  leads  us  to  observe. 

3d.  In  the  next  place,  that  we  have  good  reason  to  believe 
and  to  hope,  that  this  great  tribulation  which  has  come  upon 
us,  has  been  sent,  not  only  not  to  cripple  the  church,  but  to  in- 
crease her  resources,  and  to  make  her  a  more  efficient  witness 
for  her  Lord  and  Master  ;  and  that  in  two  ways  : 

(1)  By  bringing  her  to  humble  herself  under  the  mighty 
hand  of  God  in  true  repentance  for  her  sins.  Xo  man  who 
has  the  love  of  Christ  in  him,  and  is  acquainted,  on  the  one 
hand,  with  the  talents  intrusted  to  the  church  in  the  South 
and,  on  the  other,  with  what  they  have  done  with  them,  can 
help  seeing  that  we  have  come  very  far  short  of  our  duty, 
both  in  regard  to  the  claims  of  our  own  population,  and  the 
demands  of  the  nations  which  know  not  God.  We  have 
wasted  more  of  the  subs' ance  committed  to  us  as  stewards 
upon  vanities  and  trifles,  than  we  have  given  to  save  the  na- 
tions from  eternal  death.  Does  not  their  blood  cry  out  against 
us  ?  Brethren,  suffer  the  word  of  exhortation !  Has  it  not 
been  the  rule  with  you  when  times  were  "hard,"  and  there 
was  necessity  for  retrenchment,  to  begin  at  the  house  of  God? 
Have  you  not  said  "I  can  give  nothing,"  when  you  had  it  by 
you  ?"  When  you  have  heard  the  cry  for  more  ministers ;  and 
the  thought  has  suggested  itself  that  it  might  be  the  duty  of 
your  sons,  to  preach  the  gospel,  have  not  your  hearts  preferred 
for  those  sons  the  pursuits  and  prizes  of  wealth  and  ambition  ? 
If  so,  is  it  strange  that  the  Lord  who  loves  you,  and  will,  there- 


(>  ADDKESS    TO    THE    CilL'ROHKS1, 

tore,  sliovv  you  your  sins,  now  compels  you  to  give  freely  of 
your  sons  and  your  substance,  for  the  protection  of  your  fire 
sides  and  your  altars?  You  refused  these  gifts  for  the  eternal 
salvation  of  your  fellow-sinners  :  you  are  now  compelled  to 
relinquish  them  for  the  deliverance  of  yourselves  from  that 
which  is  worse  than  the  death  of  the  body,  a  tyrant's  heel. 
God,  then,  has  shown  you  that  the  reasons  you  assigned  for 
not  sustaining  His  work,  liberally,  were  neither  true  nor  real. 
He  has  demonstrated  this,  in  your  own  experience. 

(2)  The  other  way,  in  which  the  efficiency  of  the  church 
is  to  be  increased  by  this  war,  as  we  humbly  trust,  is  by  ma- 
king all  God's  people  see  what  the  spirit  of  love  truly  is,  and 
in  what  manner  genuine  love  works.  The  love  of  country — 
what  wonders  of  heroic  fortitude,  and  of  self-denial,  of  self- 
sacrifice,  has  it  not  wi  ought  within  the  last  few  months !  And 
yet  this  love  of  country  is  a  natural  feeling  of  man,  so  natural 
that  the  word  of  Gou  leaves  it  to  nature,  and  gives  no  com- 
mandment concerning  it,  any  more  than  concerning  the  love 
of  a  mother  for  the  child  of  her  womb.  Yet  stronger  than  a 
mother's  love  has  this  love  of  country  shown  itself  to  be ; 
for  mothers,  and  even  widows,  have  cheerfully  given  their 
jewels  to  their  country.  What  then,  beloved  brethren,  shall 
we  say  of  the  love  of  Christ ;  our  love  to  Christ  wrought  in 
us  by  the  Spirit  of  the  living  God  ?  Will  not  that  work  by 
self-denial,  if  it  be  real  ?  Will  this  love,  any  more  than  the 
love  ot  country  say.  "I  will  give  what  I  shall  not  miss?"  *'I 
will  give  this,  because  I  can  give  and  not  feel  it."  "I  will 
serve  that  which  I  love,  only  with  that  which  costs  me  noth- 
ing ?"  No !  no  !  Paul  had  no  such  conception  of  that  love, 
when  he  was  willing  to  trust  it  without  a  commandment :  "I 
speak  not  by  commandment,  to  prove  the  sincerity  of  your 
love,"  (2  Cor.  viii.  8.)  He  had  no  such  thoughts  of  it  when 
he  spoke  of  the  example  of  Christ's  love  to  his  people  being 
the  exemplar  of  their  love  to  Him.  "For  ye  know  the  graoe 
of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  that,  though  He  was  rich,  yet  for 
your  sakes  He  became  poor,  that  ye  through  His  poverty 
might  be  rich."  (2  Cor.  viii :  9)  "For  the  love  of  Christ 
constraineth  us,  because  we  thus  judge,  that  if  one  died  for 
all,  then  all  died ;  and  that  He  died  for  all,  that  they  who 
live  shall  not  henceforth  live  unto  themselves,  but  unto  Him 


UPON   THE    PRESENT    CRISIS.  7 

who  died  for  them  and  rose  again."  (2  Cor.  v:  15,  16.) 
The  meaning  of  which  sublime  utterance  is,  that  the  design 
and  the  effect  of  Christ's  self-sacrificing  love  in  laying  down 
His  life,  is  the  reproduction  of  that  love  in  His  people,  or  the 
production  of  living  images  of  Himself,  images  of  II im  emi- 
nently in  this,  that  they  shall  not  live  unto  themselves  but 
unto  Him,  in  like  manner  as  He  lived  not  unto  Himself,  but 
unto  the  Father.  Hence  Christ  himself  makes  the  posses- 
sion of  this  love  essential  to  discipleship,  and  the  law  of  self- 
denial  the  fundamental  law  of  His  kingdom.  "If  any  man 
will  come  after  me,  let  Mm  deny  himself,  and  take  up  His 
cross,  and  follow  me."  It  is  also  the  law  of  honor  in  His 
kingdom.  " Whosoever  will  be  shief  among  you,  let  him  be 
your  servant,  even  as  the  Son  of  Man  came  not  to  be  saved, 
but  to  save,  and  to  give  His  life  a  ransom  for  many." 
■  Unless,  therefore,  brethren  beloved  in  the  Lord,  you  are 
prepared  to  say  that  you  love  your  country  more  than  Christ, 
you  must  make  up  your  minds  to  lives  of  self-denial  for 
Christ's  sake.  We  hope  and  pray  that  you  may  come  forth 
out  of  this  furnace  of  war  purified  as  gold,  single-hearted, 
unselfish,  self  sacrificing  servants  of  Christ,  your  Lord. 

4th.  Once  more,  we  beg  you  to  reflect  upon  the  conse- 
quences of  not  sustaining  the  ministry  of  the  word  among 
yourselves.  This  war  may  be  a  long  one;  God  can  make  it 
long,  if  we  do  not  humble  ourselves  under  His  mighty  hand. 
We  say  nothing  of  the  frightful  possibility  of  subjugation 
by  the  hand  of  them  that  hate  us.  At  the  close  of  the  war, 
long  or  short,  300  or  400  thousand  men  will  be  restored  to 
the  bosom  of  society;  men,  it  is  to  be  feared,  more  or  less 
conupted  in  the  horrid  school  of  the  camp,  notwithstanding 
all  the  labors  of  chaplains  and  private  Christians  among  them, 
men  who  have  become  reckless  as  to  that  most  sacred  thing, 
human  life,  profane,  Sabbath-breakers,  and  what  not.  0  how 
we  should  pray  that|our  beloved  countrymen  may  not  become 
such  !  But  if  they  should  be  such,  and  should  return  into 
the  bosom  of  a  community  which  has  itself,  in  the  meantime, 
been'degenerating  ^and  becoming  more  corrupt,  under  closed 
churches  and  silent  pulpits,  what  must  be  the  result?  We 
shudder  and  shrink  from  answering  this  question.  Our  only 
hope  of  escape   from  such  a  doom  is  in   maintaining  a  vigo- 


8  ADDRESS   TO    THE    CHURCHES. 

reus  spiritual  life  in  the  community  at  home ;  a  life  and  con- 
stitution strong  enough  to  remould  the  returning  material 

We  beseech  you,  then,  brethren,  by  the  mercies  of  God, 
by  your  love  for  3  ourselves  and  your  children  and  your  couu- 
try,  by  your  love  to  a  lost  race,  and  above  all,  by  your  love  to 
our  dear  Lord  and  Saviour,  Jesus  Christ,  and  by  the  account 
you  must  render  at  his  dreadful  bar,  sustain  the  regular 
preaching  of  the  word,  among  yourselves;  see  to  it  that 
your  preachers  preach  the  ivord  of  God;  save  yourselves 
from  the  sin  and  curse  of  political  preaching;  let  the  Sab- 
bath, at  least,  be  sacred  to  the  concerns  of  God  and  salvation. 
If  one  church  cannot  sustain  a  minister  by  itself  let  two  or 
more  unite  for  that  purpose.  If  this  cannot  be  done,  let  the 
officers  hold  meetings  for  prayer  and  exhortation;  and 
them  visit  from  house  to  house,  reproving,  convincing,  entreat- 
ing with  all  long-suffering  and  doctrine.  Pay  special  atten- 
tion to  the  instruction  of  the  young,  the  lambs  of  the  flock. 
"Be  kindly  affectioned  one  to  another  with  brotherly  love ; 
in  honor  preferring  one  another;  not  slothful  in  business; 
fervent  in  spirit;  serving  the  Lord  ;  rejoicing  in  hope  ;  patient 
in  tribulation ;  continuing  constant  in  prayer ;  distributing  to 
the  necessity  ot  saints ;  given  to  hospitality.  Bless  them 
which  prosecute  you ;  bless  and  curse  not.  Rejoice  with 
them  that  do  rejoice,  and  weep  with  them  that  weep.  Re- 
compense to  no  man  evil  for  evil.  Be  not  overcome  with 
evil,  but  overcome  evil  with  good."  "If  ye  do  these  things, 
ye  shall  never  fall,  but  so  an  entrance  shall  be  administered 
unto  you  abundantly  into  the  everlasting  Kingdom  of  our 
Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ,  to  whom  be  glory  forever  ! 
Amen  !" 


Hollinger  Corp* 
PH  8.5 


